Why Josh Smith makes no sense for Spurs

CLEVELAND — The week or so leading up to the trade deadline is always an interesting time around the NBA. I’ve always believed it’s the one time of year the super plugged-in Internet fan is actually less informed than the casual fan.

There’s just too much white noise out there. Too much speculation. Much of it (most of it?) completely bogus.

And so we come to the “rumor” that the Spurs are looking to trade for Atlanta forward Josh Smith. In a power-rankings column yesterday, the great Marc Spears at Yahoo! Sports mentioned the Spurs as one of many teams expressing interest in Smith.

I have no doubt this is accurate, and not just because Spears knows his stuff (he does). Smith is a good player who is immediately available. Every contender should be “expressing interest.”

This morning, the folks at ProBasketballTalk took Spears’ mention a step further, hopping on the trade machine to put together a hypothetical deal between the Spurs and Hawks. To PBT’s credit, the site made imminently clear the “hypothetical” part.

The deal they made up: Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson’s expiring contract, a pick (perhaps?), a young point guard (perhaps?).

Again, nobody is reporting that the Spurs and Hawks have discussed any sort of deal at all. It’s all hypothetical.

And yet, like the junior-high game of telephone, the story gets passed around the web, simplified and misinterpreted, and suddenly Mr. Super Plugged-In Internet Guy is Tweeting his local beat writer: “Didja hear the Spurs are gonna trade Kawhi Leonard for Josh Smith?!?”

If I may, here are three reasons why the Josh Smith-to-Spurs thing will not happen.

1) The Hawks are primarily interested in acquiring picks. Lottery picks. The Spurs, as you may have read, are 41-12. They’re going to have to do a championship job of tanking after the All-Star break to wind up in the draft lottery. As it stands now, they’re going to have the No. 30 pick overall. Not an enticing trade chip for a team like Atlanta.

2) The Spurs have little to no interest in adding big payroll after this season. Smith is going to want a maximum contract when his deal is up. It’s the reason the Hawks are shopping him. I have no doubt some team out there will give Smith the payday he desires. I guarantee you it’s not going to be the Spurs. You really think the Spurs would be interested in giving up Kawhi Leonard — a guy Gregg Popovich envisions as the future face of the franchise – for a half-season rental? Because I don’t.

3) Leonard is borderline untouchable at this point. Look, you never say never about trading anybody (except maybe Tim Duncan). But thanks to the rookie scale contract system, the Spurs have Leonard — aka “Bruce Bowen with skills” — for two more seasons at a total of $3.1 million. That’s chump change, and quite a value for a player who is becoming increasingly important to what the Spurs do at both ends of the floor. For the budget-conscious Spurs, a player so vastly over-performing his contract is worth holding onto for dear life.

So, Mr. Super Plugged-In Internet Guy, the Josh Smith thing’s probably not going to happen. You can stop obsessing. And hitting refresh on the Twitter account every 15 seconds. Step away from the Trade Machine. Maybe take a break, go to a movie or something.